No consensus, Telangana GoM to meet again today

The GoM set up to draft the bill to create Telangana could not arrive at a consensus over the plan to create the new state with 12 districts – and not the original 10 - at its meeting on Tuesday, forcing the ministerial panel to hold another meeting on Wednesday.

Sources said there were differences within the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the desirability of adding two districts - Kurnool and Anantapur – to the original map of Telangana.

Reports that the GoM was veering towards a 12-district formula had provoked an angry response from pro-Telangana parties that have announced a bandh on Thursday.

“Who has asked for Rayala-Telangana? Our agitation all these years was for the 10 district Telangana. We would not allow Rayala-Telangana in any circumstances,” TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao declared in Hyderabad.

In Delhi, union minister Jaipal Reddy too had spoken out against the plan, saying he was “not comfortable” at the merger that would “hurt the sentiments of people of Telangana and Seemandhra particularly Rayalseema”.

At Tuesday’s meeting, at least two GoM members including Shinde opposed the 12-district plan.